Wilhelm jerger



(No Model.)

W. J ERGER. GLOG'K WINDING MEGHANISM.

Patented June 23, 1896.

%W mz-awi ANDREW B.6RANAM.PHOT0-UTHD WASHINGTGILD C UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

IVILHELM JERGER, OF NIEDERESCHACH, GERMANY.

CLOCK-WINDING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,539, dated June 23,1896.

Application filed December 3, 1895. Serial No. 570,915. (No model.)Patented in France $eptember 7, 1893, No. 232,681; in Germany December7, 1893, No. 77,766; in Austria-Hungary March 14, 1894, No. 51,451 andNo. 81,300, and in England July 10, 1894,110. 13,360.

T 0 aZZ whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILHELM JERGER, a subject of the Emperorof Germany,residing at Niedereschach, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Clock Mechanism, (for which Ihave obtained patents in France, No. 232,681, dated September 7, 1893;in Germany, No. 77,766, dated December 7, 1893; in Austria-Hungary, No.51,451 and No. 81,300, dated March 14, 1894:, and in England, No.13,360, dated July 10, 1894,) of which the following is a specification.

In the construction of clocks and watches, especially of that classwhich are adapted to run for one week or more with but one winding,various devices and arrangements have been employed to overcome theinequalities of pressure exerted by the mainspring of the timepiece, thepressure of the spring being greatest when under full tension, and atits minimum point when the mechanism is nearly run down.

Among other improvements an attempt has been made to provide a train ofwheels wherein the escapement-wheel is acted upon by a small springsecured to the shaft of said wheel, so that same shall be automaticallywound up by the mainspring at alternate periods. The defective points ofthis system are obviated by my improvement, as will be readilyunderstood by reference to the ac companying drawings and description ofsame.

Figure 1 is a front view of a clock mechanism provided with myimprovement, and Fig. 2 an edge or side view of same. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6,and 7 are detail views for the better understanding of my invention.

In order that my improvements may be clearly shown and therefore betterunderstood, they are represented in Figs. 1 and 2 at the top of a smalltrain of clock-gearing, but it is evident that the said improvements maybe employed in any other suitable construction of clockwork orescapement.

In the clock mechanism as illustrated in the accompanying drawings,power is imparted to the main shaft by a spring A and from said shaftthrough an ordinary ratchet-wheel as shown at f f in Figs. 2, 5, and 6.

a and gear-wheel a to the pinion B of a shaft B, on which is a cog-wheelb, engaging a pinion O of a shaft (1, upon which a spring D is mountedin such way that in a determined period, for instance, after eachminute, it w1ll be wound up, and thus be made to drive the wheel cl,which is loosely fitted on the same shaft and adapted to drive thepinion d on the shaft of which is a wheel d for engaging a pinion c of ashaft 6 to which the escapement wheel E is also secured. The spring Dhas its outer end securely connected with the wheel clbya pin 61 (seeFig. 3) and its inner end with the shaft d, so as to exert a mediumtension. The train from a to c is thus under the action of themainspring A and the train cl to E is under the influence of the smallspring D. The wheel 0 imparts motion by means of pinion f and its shaftto the disk or wheel f, which is provided at opposite sides thereof, andat one hundred and eighty degrees apart, with pins, These pins arearranged in two different planes, so as to successively act against thetwo halfcylinders g 9, (see Fig. 7,) and thus temporarily arrest theaction of the mainspring A.

The pin f cooperates with the part g and the pin f with g when the wheelf has made a half-revolution under the pressure of the mainspring. Inorder to make the movement uniform, the wheel f in its sudden motion isadapted to drive a small fiy-wheel h", which is mounted on a shaftcarrying a pinion h, which the said wheel f is made to engage. Theescapement-wheel E is connected with the balance mechanism by any of theknown escapement devices,here the hook of Clement.

It will be understood that the spring D,tending to unwind itself, willturn the wheel at,

connected therewith, in the direction of the arrow, (see Fig. 3,) sothat by means of the wheels d 01 and e the escapement-Wheel E andbalance-wheel h are operated in the well-known manner. During therotation of the springD its tension is of course decreased. The power ofthe mainspring A, acting on the train a, a 17, b, and O, is arrestedduring the motion because its last Wheel 0 with its shaft (Z remainsstationary. The wheel f, being connected with the spring D, is arrestedby the pin f coming in contact with the cylinder 9. Through the wheels dd driven by the spring D, the cylinders g g are moved forward until thepin f slides off of the half-cylinder g, Fig. 5, and thus frees thewheel f, which movement causes the spring Ato immediately ,act on thetrain of gearing and causes, through wheel 0, the shaft. cl to turn inthe direction of the arrow (see Fig. 3) until the pin f strikes againstthe half-cylinder g, thereby causing the train between the wheel 61 andthe Wheel a to be again arrested. During the revolution of the shaft clthe spring D is again wound up to the extent it had previously run downby the action of the escapementwheel. Now when the half-cylinders haveturned so far that the pin f slides away from the half-cylinder g theaction above described is repeated again. Thus the wheels of the trainfrom the wheel a to the wheel cl make their revolutions in a greaterlength of time, while the wheels from d to E perform their ordinarymotion which is controlled by the balance h. The jumping motion istransferred to the inner shaft t" and the hands connected therewith bymeans of the wheel i, the said shaft being provided with a minutehand 6The hour-hand is moved by the ordinary transmission.

The escapement-wheel E has-a period of rest, and a period of motion isadjusted, so that the winding up of the wheel (1 shall be in the formerperiod, and thus a decrease of tension of the spring D is preventedduring the said period.

As shown in the drawings, the small spring D is not-attached to theshaft of the escape ment-wheel, but upon the shaft d, which is in frontof the escapement-wheel. The advantage of this arrangement is that thewinding up of the spring D is only necessary after repeated revolutionsof the escapementwheel.

In order to insure correct timekeeping for any length of time, careshould be taken never to let the spring D run down to any great eX-tent. In fact it is better to have said spring always under tension ofthe same number of windings, t'. 6., the train should be wound up nowand then to the extent it has unwound since the last winding. Thus whenthe mainsprin A has run down to its limit the spring D should not actany further upon escapement-wheel E, because otherwise the spring Dwould run down completely. To the end, therefore, to prevent furthermovement of the mechanism after the mainspring has run down, an arm d issecured to the sleeve d (see Figs. 2, 3, and 4) and the wheel d providedwith a projecting pin d, which engaging the arm 61 looks the partstogether and prevents further act-ion of the spring D.

The position of the arm 61 must of course be such that the pin d cantouch it only after the disengagement of one of the pins f and thecompletion of its revolution.

In winding up the springA the power necessary produces a reaction ofthe'train, so that the turning of the wheel d on the shaft cl in anopposite direction might occur, which would mean the turning of thespring D in opposite sense. Now to prevent this backward movement, asecond pin (Z of same length as d is made to project outward from wheel(1, so that the arm (1 shall play between the two projecting pins duringthe ordinary movement of the mechanism, but without touching eitherprojection. When the wheel cl, however, receives an impulse from thebackward motion, by winding up the mainspring, the shaft 01 and arm 61have a tendency to turn in an opposite direction. to

their ordinary motion, which brings the arm d in contact with the pin (Zand such motion is thereby prevented.

The arrangement of the arm (Z playing only between the pins d and dprevents the running down of the spring D any farther than the limitdetermined by these pins by which it is always kept at a uniformtension, and thus a decrease in same is rendered impossible.

Having thus fully described my invention as well as the operation ofsame, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by LettersPatout, is

1. The combination in a clock-movement provided with a mainspring, of anequalizingspring, the shaft of which is connected with the shaft of themainspring, and the shaft of the escapement-wheel, by separate systemsof intermediate gearing, the system connecting with theescapement-wheel, embracing the wheel f, having pins f and f asdescribed, and the cylinders g g, adapted to be engaged by the pins fand f substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a clock mechanism, the combination of a mainspring, anequalizing-spring having an independent shaft connected with themainspring-shaft, and the escapement-wheel shaft by separate trains ofgearing, the cylinders g g and wheel f having pins f and f for engagingsaid cylinders as described, with the sleeve d having an arm (Z and thewheel d provided with a projecting pin d", substantially as describedand for the purpose specified.

3. In clock mechanism, the combination of a mainspring andequalizingspring, the

shaft of the latter connected by separatetrains of gearing with themainspring-shaft and escapement-wheel shaft, the wheel 1 and pins f fand the cylinders g g, with the wheel'd having pins (1, (Z and thesleeve d" and pin (1 substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

l/VILIIELM JERGER. lVit-n esses CARL SoHo'rzKY, GUSTAV BiiLLnsBAon.

